John Miller

John Edward Miller left this world to fly with the dragons and the angels on August 8, 2022.

John was born in Bonne Terre on August 4, 1965. As a child, he drew monsters, because he knew that monsters were real, but he also wore a cape, because he believed that heroes were real too, and he preferred to be a hero.

A natural storyteller, he introduced his friends to Dungeons and Dragons in the 1970s after his brother Frank taught him how to play. He spent many weekends behind the screen, taking his friends on adventures where they defeated monsters, eluded traps, and gained experience and treasure.

John was intrigued by computers and graduated from DeVry University with an Associate degree in electronics. He moved to California, where he worked as a bench tech at Sun Microsystems and a support engineer at IBM and Quantum. It was while living in California, John became interested in 3D animation, a new art form at that time.

In 1991, John married his soulmate, Rachelle Reese. In 1995, John and Rachelle moved back to Missouri.

John had a dream of making sure table-top roleplaying lived on in the Mineral Area. He owned and operated two stores: At Your Leisure and Jester’s Cards and Stuff. He was known as Uncle John to many children, teenagers, and adults as they explored roleplaying games, table-top strategy games, and collectible card games. He was a mentor to many of the kids, helping them gain the confidence to pursue their own dreams.

John believed in putting his stories on paper. He and his wife co-authored the Dime Store Novel urban fantasy series and two short story collections: Bones of the Woods and Mind of a Mad Man. John was an artist, a director, and an animator. He particularly enjoyed creating stop-motion animation and studied animation at the Academy of Arts in San Francisco. 

John was preceded in death by his father, Herbert Lee Miller and brother, Francis “Frank” Lee Miller. He is survived by his wife, Rachelle Reese; mother Margaret Miller; brothers, Alan Miller and Robert Miller; sisters, Barbara LaChance and Mary Killian; many nieces and nephews, both by kinship and friendship.

We will celebrate John’s life at CZ Boyer and Son Caldwell Chapel, in Park Hills. The viewing will be Wednesday, August 17, 2022, from 5:00 PM until 8:00 PM.  The visitation will resume Thursday, August 18, 2022, from 10:00 AM until the service time at noon.  If you have funny or heartwarming stories about John,  you would like to share, you are invited to do so during the service.  Interment will follow at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Washington County.

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